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"Stunningly preserved" skeletons of dinosaurs initially found in the early 1900s were reported to include mummified body parts protected underneath a clay mask, according to a study recently published by Science.org.
Pieces of skin, spikes and hooves were observed among the specimens of Edmontosaurus annectens, which were originally found in Wyoming more than 100 years prior. The "fleshy" parts aren't fossilized, instead having delicate clay molds formed by microbes as the specimen decayed and the clay layers are bound by sandstone, which differs from the true fossilized soft tissue, suspected to have formed as a surface template over the decaying carcass, the study states.
"We corroborate closely the initial stages of Osborn’s (1, 54) taphonomic hypothesis for the AMNH mummy as our stages 1 and 2, both occurring within a single season. Stages 3 and 4 commence immediately after burial," the researchers wrote.
The specimens were first discovered in coarse, oxygenated river deposits and scientists assumed they were fossilized skin texture and body parts, however, additional examination, which included the finding of a mummified juvenile and adult E. annectens, provided a different perspective. The juvenile E. annectens is the first subadult dinosaur mummy ever discovered, as well as the first large-bodied dinosaur to be found with a "fully preserved fleshy outline," which includes a neck and trunk crest, according to the study.
The adult specimen was reported to have kept its full tail spike row and is the earliest known tetrapod with hooves, which makes it the first suspected reptile to have hooved feet, according to the study.